Turn HR Expenses
into Profits: Get more returns from your employees for fewer
dollars

By John Schaefer

The only good thing
about today’s challenging economy is that many established
recognition and performance programs are open for review that might
not hit the radar in healthier economic times. Everyone is looking
for ways to make sure they’re getting the most benefit from the
dollars they’re currently spending to recognize and award their
people; or better yet … how to get even better results for less
money!

Joe works as an
Engineer in a large manufacturing plant. Every month, he and his
colleges anxiously await the company newsletter to view the photo of
the General Manager and see if he was wearing a tie. When the
weather heats up, in late May or early June, the newsletter displays
an open collar photo, so this was the signal for everyone to take
off their ties for the summer.

While this was a fun
exercise and an appreciated dress code in Arizona, Joe’s wonders,
“Who the heck is this guy? Wouldn’t it be great if he just wandered
by every now and then and waved at us?” What Joe is experiencing is
the very basics of good employee recognition; something termed
Management by Walking Around (or in this case, the lack thereof)!

In order to stay in
touch with the people who report directly to you simply walk around,
talk to them, share with them, observe them, and don’t be critical.
If you do this with all your employees on a regular basis, you will
quickly identify where they are succeeding, where they are
struggling, and where they need help.

As a natural
by-product of this technique a trust relationship builds up between
employees and manager. The employees will feel like their manager
knows what they’re doing and the manager will have a better rapport
to address issues, both good and bad, with their employees. Here
are five keys that will help:

1) Visit everyone

2) Stay positive

3) Be genuine

4) Make sure it’s
not all business

5) Don’t expect
results right away

So what does this
have to do with turning expenses into profits? First, it’s an
extremely effective way of engaging employees emotionally. It’s
also easy and free! The theory is supported by a vast amount of
research from experts like the Gallup Organization all the way back
to Abraham Maslow, who agree that appealing to employees Self Esteem
(their desire to be Loved and Respected) is where real engagement
begins. Relationships are the foundation on which effective
recognition is built. If you don’t have them with your people you
will waste your money and time trying to buy their discretionary
performance.

Here are three
strategies we find helpful as you share this with your managers:

1. It’s All About
Perception: The secret to effective recognition is employee
perception. If managers are seen as just “going through the
motions”, employees won’t buy it, they’ll feel underappreciated, and
will ask you to “show me the money”.

Any time employees
ask for money rather than recognition, it’s a sign of a training
problem, not an awards problem. However, when supervisors see
Recognition and Performance Improvement as valuable tools that can
actually make their job easier, they’ll get behind your program
initiatives and “Make it Real!” You’ve got to win over your
managers and supervisors before you can expect them to win over
their subordinates.

2. Look Through Your
Employee’s Eyes: As supervisors become more aware of how they tend to
view things differently than their subordinates you are on track to
overcoming the reason for most of the frustration, reduced
productivity, turnover, and lack of cooperation in your company.

A George Mason
University study shows that while employees consistently rate
Recognition and Being Informed near the top and Good Pay around the
middle on their list of things that motivate them at work; most
supervisors assume that Good Pay is at the top and Recognition and
Being Informed (another way of saying Love and Respect) are near the
bottom on these employee surveys.

Until your employees
believe you truly value them as human beings, any efforts you use to
motivate them will be seem as manipulation and will turn them off.
Management’s understanding of what motivates employees is often
flawed, and the moment your intentions are viewed as
“company-focused” rather than from the heart, you begin to lose them
emotionally. Make sure that any actions you use to improve
performance follow engagement practices that make people feel valued
as members of your team, not just a cog in a big machine.

3. Do it in the
Right Order: Most companies already have a variety of training,
recognition and incentive programs in place, but they may not be
well organized and are probably not being used in the correct
order. It’s a lot like dealing with your kids; if they don’t know
you love them, your well-meaning discipline can come across as
mean-spirited, self-serving and more about your convenience than
their betterment. We suggest leading with Recognition (Love and
Respect), then offering Performance Improvement opportunities (Share
the Wealth) and finally special awards for high achievement
(Specific Acknowledgement).

When you step
back and view all of the ways you communicate with your employees as
one cohesive strategy, rather than a group of unrelated awards
programs, you will quickly be able to identify overlap, redundancy
and areas of confusion. Then, as you relaunch using a
training-based approach that puts your people’s emotional needs
first, you will enjoy both up front savings and measurable ROI that
will surprise and please you and your management team.